Climate Change & Sustainability

LOW CARBON LIVING AUSTRALIA

Low Carbon Living is a nationwide program working with individuals, households, businesses and communities to help reduce their carbon footprint.

The program developed from a partnership with the Low Carbon Living Cooperative Research Centre at the University of New South Wale and was first piloted in the Blue Mountains in 2016, where it proved to be a success, with over 80 businesses signing onto the program in the first two years.

In response to this, the program launched nationally in 2018, and since then it has expanded into the Southern Highlands region, with other regions such as Port Douglas in Northern Queensland, set to take up the program in the future.

CLIMATE CHANGE ECO-MONITORING

In 2018, the Institute partnered with Scenic World to launch an ecological monitoring for climate change project that would ultimately be powered by the dedication of volunteer citizen scientists.

This project aims to monitor the presence and movement of flora and fauna and provide long-term records of changes that may reflect influences such as climate change and human impacts.

The first monitoring sites to be established are along the urban-bushland interface of the upper Blue Mountains and to 2019 these sites are at Scenic World (Katoomba), the Fairfax track behind Govetts Leap Lookout in Blackheath, and near the Conservation Hut in Wentworth Falls.

Since the initial pilot phase that engaged the enthusiastic staff at Scenic World, an expanding team of volunteers has participated in the establishment of the next two data collection points on the Fairfax Track in Blackheath and near the Conservation Hut at Wentworth Falls. Further sites in the lower mountains are being assessed for suitability in the coming years.

The Institute is grateful for the monitoring expertise of Dr Ricky Spencer and his students from Western Sydney University who help with data interpretation and analysis. The data collected provides invaluable insights into the often subtle changes taking place in the bushland around us.